[Bug 589496] Re: bash --rcfile does not behave as documented

[MestreLion]

> Why does Debian enable -DSYS_BASHRC? This question does not seem to be
answered anywhere.

It does make sense for Debian (and Ubuntu) to enable SYS_BASHRC by
default, as a system-wide /etc/bash.bashrc is a useful (and needed)
configuration tool for sysadmins. It's standard behavior for many
packages to read system-wide config file(s) from /etc and then merge
user settings from ~/.* or ~/.config, so I don't think this is the
issue.

> Is there a workaround? Can someone release an alternate version of
bash for Ubuntu without -DSYS_BASHRC?

There's no need for an alternate release: if you have enough privileges
to install system-wide software with apt, it means you're the admin who
can also edit /etc/bash.bashrc to be a blank file to effectively disable
it.

If you're not the admin but want a custom bash for your user, you can
compile bash yourself (without -DSYS_BASHRC or patched with a correct
--rcfile behavior) and install it at ~/.local/bin.

So admins can easily modify/disable /etc/bash.bashrc, and non-admins are
not supposed to be able to bypass it anyway, at least for login shells.

----

I believe the issue is not -DSYS_BASHRC being enabled by default, but
rather `--rcfile` not behaving as it should, and documentation that
mismatches current behavior.

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/589496

Title:
  bash --rcfile does not behave as documented

Status in bash package in Ubuntu:
  Confirmed
Status in bash package in Debian:
  New

Bug description:
  Binary package hint: bash

  the bash manpage says this about --rcfile

  --rcfile file
  Execute commands from file instead of the system  wide  initial‐
  ization file /etc/bash.bashrc and the standard personal initial‐
  ization file ~/.bashrc if the shell is interactive (see  INVOCA‐
  TION below).

  under INVOCATION it says

  When  an  interactive  shell that is not a login shell is started, bash
  reads and executes commands from  /etc/bash.bashrc  and  ~/.bashrc,  if
  these  files  exist.  This may be inhibited by using the --norc option.
  The --rcfile file option will force bash to read and  execute  commands
  from file instead of /etc/bash.bashrc and ~/.bashrc.

  but when i execute
  $ bash --rcfile somercfilewhichreallydoesexistandisreadableandall
  it will still read /etc/bash/bashrc (can be verified by adding --verbose)

  using lucid with bash 4.1-2ubuntu3

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